Century 6: Ojai Valley Century

A couple weeks ago, I received an email advertising the Ojai Valley Century.  The ride promised great views, good weather, and manageable climbing.  It sounded like an great combination (particularly with temperatures at home approaching 100 degrees), so this past weekend the Mrs. and I packed up our scooters and headed south.

We rolled out at 7:00 into a mist, overcast morning.  The climbing started early, with the route taking us up to Lake Casitas.  The cool weather made the climbing fun; the climb was challenging but never difficult.  The route then took us into Carpinteria, west into Montecito, down Highway 1 to Ventura, up to Santa Paula, and then a final climb back up to Ojai.  The last climb was challenging because of the heat (well, okay--maybe it wasn't that hot, but it did get up to 83 degrees) and because it came at mile 87.  The climbing was supposed to be in the 3500' range, but turned out to be 5050'.  I was able to complete the 101 miles with a 13.3 mph average, which was pretty good for the climbing involved. 

This was a great ride, and it will be on my calendar for next year.  Good route, great scenery, and solid support, including a very nice lunch stop) made for a good day in the saddle.

Mrs. SockMonkey rode the 30 mile route.  It was an out-and-back from Ojai down to Ventura and back.  A great idea in theory, except that it placed all the climbing on the inbound route, and she faced a considerable challenge in making the 16-mile, 1100' climb back to Ojai.  But complete it she did, and we celebrated this achievement by having dinner at Cafe Firenze in Moorpark.  We chose the restaurant because it had received great reviews--but when we arrived, Mrs. SockMonkey was very excited to discover that it was the restaurant of Fabio Viviani, a Food TV chef that the Mrs. recognized instantly.  +1 for the weekend!

Up next:  LA River Ride.

Century 5 and Century 5.89

On May 5^th, I rode the Wine Country Century.  Two years ago, I rode the metric, and last year I forgot to register when the window opened and missed the event entirely.  I’ve ridden in the Sonoma area quite a bit over the past few years, and it’s one of my favorite places to ride.  In fact, back when the Mrs. and I first started riding, one of the first lengthy rides that we went on was a route that we found on the Santa Rosa Cycling Club website.  That ride, the Dry Creek/Alexander Valley 32-mile was one of our greatest days on wheels, and the route remains one of our all-time favorites.  There’s something about the combination of the intimate roads and the views of the vineyards that make these Sonoma valley roads special.  We try to ride that route at least once a year. 

But back to the ride at hand.  Each of the centuries that I’ve taken part in have a different quality.  The Chico Wildflower is all about the three climbs—Humboldt, Honey Run, and Table Mountain.  The Tour de Palm Springs is about expansive desert terrain.  The Solvang Century is about the gentle but insistent climb up Foxen Canyon Road.  The Wine Country Century is about rolling roads punctuated by short but steep climbs, all wrapped around some of the prettiest terrain imaginable.  Last year, the Chico Wildflower was my favorite event.  This year, the WCC would be my choice—far and away the best ride of the year so far.

The weather forecast for the weekend threatened heat, but on the day of the event, the temperatures remained reasonable.  Except for the short climb up Chalk Hill Road, heat wasn’t really a factor all day.  I rolled out at 7:05, and the miles passed by quickly.  A pre-ride email from the organizers noted that the roads had taken a beating the previous winter, and that we could expect some rough conditions, but except for a few spots, things were very manageable.  The first rest stop came quickly, and I bumped into Samantha there and we exchanged brief greetings.  The rest stop had breakfast burritos!  It was a bit cool for the first few miles, so a warm tortilla was a welcome treat. 

I mentioned that my sense for the ride was that it was punctuated by some short, steep climbs, and one of those occurred shortly after the first rest stop—I think it was on River Road, and it was a short 17% climb at the end of an already challenging short climb.  I’m a spinner, not a masher, and when a climb exceeds 10% I struggle pretty badly.  I really had to grind to get to the top, and it taxed my reserves to make it.  This stretch had a couple of these brief challenges, and I felt their residual impact throughout the day. 

After the second rest stop at Wohler Bridge, the route became very familiar, with the course passing through Dry Creek Valley, through the much-appreciated lunch stop at Lake Sonoma, down Alexander Valley, and back to Santa Rosa.  The climb on Chalk Ridge Hill Road was a bit of a pisser.  I’d stopped on the climb when I rode the metric two years ago, and discovered that I was only about 100 yards from the top.  This year, I swore that I wouldn’t do that again—and ended up stopping in exactly the same spot because I’d forgotten all about last year's resolution.  The climb was very manageable, except that it was about ten miles from the end of the ride.

Again, this was a great ride, and certainly at the top of my list for must-do for next year:  great route, beautiful scenery, and well supported.  Mrs. SockMonkey did the 35 mile route.  Typically, a 30-mile route is pretty flat and manageable, but the WCC 35 is more challenging, with some of those same short, steep sections from the other routes.  The Mrs. met those challenges, and had a great day on wheels, as well, earning us both a dinner at John Ash & Co. in Santa Rosa that night. 

100.4 miles

7:43 ride time

9:15 total time

13.0 mph average

4484’ of climbing

Century 5.89

On May 12, I rode the Clovis Centennial Century.  Or, I should say, I attempted to ride that century, for on that Saturday, I met The Man with the Hammer.  I’ve never climbed more than 5,000 or so feet on a single ride, so the Clovis Centennial represented a signal chance to break through 6,000’.  The fact that the ride was just an hour away and that it followed briefly the route of the AMGEN Tour of California (the easy, fast downhill part) was even greater attraction, so the DogMagnet and I decided to give it a go.  The early part of the route was a familiar route up Auberry Road through Prather.  This is a great route that offers a wide and smooth shoulder to ride on.  It’s one of my favorite routes out of Fresno.  The road from Prather to Auberry was narrow and traffic whips past through pretty fast, so it’s a bit intimidating—but not nearly as intimidating as the challenge that followed:  Powerhouse Road.  The profile found on the event website pretty much describes the challenge:

 

See that V-shaped dent in the profile?  That’s Powerhouse Road:  a wonderful zippy, curvy downhill, followed by the most demoralizing climb I’ve ever attempted.  The climb was manageable initially, but the extended stretches of 10% or greater grade and the heat made the climb increasingly difficult.  At the third mile of the four-mile climb, I crapped out.  After series of increasingly weak start-and-stop sequences, I just couldn’t get my legs to go any further.  Overheated, tired, and cramping up; I wanted to go, but just couldn’t.  I had met The Man with the Hammer.  A SAG motorcycle rider stopped and asked how I was doing, and I told him to get a SAG car out to pick up my sorry ass because I was done.  Oddly enough, once he rode off, I was able to get back on the bike and get a few yards up the road.  And a few yards turned into a few hundred yards.  And then a quarter mile.  And then a half mile.  And then the road flattened out and I made it to the top without having to SAG.  I was able to cover the last mile in one shot; it turned out to be a very manageable piece of climbing, and it was a great feeling to finish that stupid climb, even if it took forever to do it.   

The Man with the Hammer

I was pretty much done, though, and at the rest stop at the top of the hill I was told 1) that I was the last rider on the route, and 2) that there was a bailout route that would knock off the last piece of climbing up to Bass Lake and get me back to an easier part of the course so I could finish.  (The Fresno Cycling Club guys who provided support for the ride did an outstanding job.  They were incredibly encouraging, provided quality rest stops, and took good care of their riders.  This was a one-off event, but if they hold it again next year, I'd give it another shot and recommend it to others looking for a challenge.)  After cogitating the options, I decided to take the bailout.  There was no way I was going to be able to complete the full century route, so I didn’t beat myself up too badly, and actually enjoyed the route along Friant Road and back to Clovis.  This was the part of the route that followed the AMGEN tour course, and it was a bit cool to see those guys riding on some very familiar roads a bit later in the week.  The DogMagnet made nearly all the way to the final rest stop, but needed a SAG ride for 5 miles to get there. From that point, he completed the ride.  In the end, the heat was the biggest factor for us both.  It was one of the first weekends where temperatures reached the 90’s, and the temperature on the road exceeded 102 degrees.  Had I ridden this route a month earlier, I might have been able to complete it.  But that wasn’t the case on this date.  So I took my 89 miles and logged it as a personal growth experience.  I met The Man with the Hammer that day, and he owned me.  

Next up:  The Ojai Valley Century

Century 3a: Fail; Century 3b Epic; Century 4: A hot time on Table Mountain

Three starts, two completions.  Is it any wonder that I've not rushed to keep the blog updated?

3a.  The Central Valley Vietnam Veteran's ride.  
This was supposed to be an easy century.  The ride started just a few miles from home, the route wasn't challenging, and the possible rain and wind was to be the only real challenge.  The first few miles went well, and then my stomach decided to rebel and I dropped like a one egg pudding (to quote my major professor).  By mile 50 I had the chills, and at mile 61 I was done.  Mrs. SockMonkey picked my sorry ass up and sagged me back to my car.  The DogMagnet completed the whole ride, overcoming a torrential downpour and an increasingly stiff headwind on the way back to Tulare.  Fail.

3b  Woody Y Century
On April 14, I took on the Woody Y Century in Bakersfield.   Bakersfield can be a pretty grim place to ride, but I took a shot at this ride because it seemed to have a relatively easy century--a good way to get back in the saddle after the failed ride.

It rained throughout the week, and although the forecast for the day of the ride was good, the day turned out to be consistently intermittently wet.  The ride opened with an extended run through an oilfield with all the esthetic appeal that that implies, but then the route took us through a very pretty piece of rolling terrain along Woody Road that really made the ride worthwhile.  The rest of the ride wound through some typical south Valley agricultural land, past the famous Famoso dragstrip, and then back to Bakersfield.  Not a memorable ride, but a way to get back on track.  The rain and a constant, moderate head/crosswind made the day a challenge beyond that presented by the very manageable route.  The rain varied considerably, ranging from cold, sharp rain, to light spotty rain, to fat rain--right out of Forrest Gump.  The rain, combined with the rough chip seal roads thoroughly shredded my rear tire.  It was nearing the end of its service life at 2,000 miles anyway, but the conditions separated the tread from the carcass for nearly a quarter of the diameter of the tire by the end of the ride.  In the end, the day wasn't as epic as my monsoon ride at the 2010 San Diego Gran Fondo Colnago, but it was a rewarding ride and epic in its own way.  This wasn't a big ride (probably a hundred or so riders), and I'm pretty sure that I finished last.  But I'll take it.

The SockMonkey at the end of the ride.

4  Chico Wildflower
On April 29, rode the Chico Wildflower for the second time.  Last year's ride was my all-time favorite century:  A couple iconic climbs, a personal record for climbing, great support, and the satisfaction of completing a challenging century.  I was really looking forward to this year's event, and it didn't disappoint.  The support wasn't quite as good (not as much variety at the rest stops), and it looked like there were fewer riders than last year, but the ride was as challenging and rewarding as I had hoped.  The initial climb was a crappy as I remembered.  Think of a road with bad acne and you'll not be far from the mark.  The second climb, up Honey Run Road, was pretty and challenging--a great piece of riding.  The third climb, up Cherokee Road to the top of Table Mountain, though, remained a major struggle.  It was hot (84 degrees per my phone, but 95 on my bike computer), and the third mile of the four-mile climb was a real struggle.  I had to stop in the same three spots I stopped last year, and the short pieces of 10+% grade really caught me up short.  I did have quite a bit of company at each stop, but that didn't lessen the disappointment at not making the climb in a more powerful manner.

Cherokee Road, about a mile from the top of Table Mountain.  What you can't see is my lungs hanging out of my chest as I try to catch my breath.

The moonscape at the top of Table Mountain. 

I'm finding that the greatest challenge in completing a century is the mental hurdle that happens at about mile 80. That will be the subject of a later post, but the Wildflower is, for me, a classic example of how flat, easy riding can be an agonizing experience.  The final thirty miles or more of the route are an absolutely flat ride through some orchards and fields--the route of the aptly named Flatflower 30 mile ride.  No challenge at all--except that, at 75 miles into the ride, all I wanted to do was get to the end.  Tired.  Hot.  Knees sore from the climbing.  Miles that seemed to creep by at an unbelievably bovine pace.  But all things pass, and I made it back to the car and logged another completed century.

Mrs SockMonkey took on the Flatflower and scored a strong ride.  It'd been a while since she had been on her bike, and she, too, completed a successful ride.

So century number four is in the books.  The Wildflower is a great ride, and highly recommended.  I'm still struggling to find my rhythm this year, though.  Palm Springs felt good, Solvang was a good outing, but even though I'm riding as much as I ever have and taking on more challenging climbs, I'm not having century experiences that are as strong as I'd like to be.  But I'm working on it, and am very optimistic about my next ride.  Next up:  The Wine Country Century.

Yes, I am a slacker

Well.  My work on this blog has been as inconsistent as my riding season this year.  I haven't done a very good job in keeping this thing up to date, so I'm going to be jamming  to catch up.
  

Jabba the Hutt:  The image of the archetypal slacker